Sam Hunt

Sam Hunt will curate his first-ever music festival The Nashional this spring at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21. Hunt will be headlining the musically diverse line-up that includes Nashville genre-bending band Judah & The Lion, R&B rapper Fetty Wap, American country music duo Brothers Osborne, west coast rapper Kyle, indie-pop artist Quinn XCII, LA’s indie-rock band LANY, American country music band LANCO, electronica singer/songwriter/producer Chelsea Cutler, Nashville-based rapper Ernest K. and contemporary country duo Muscadine Bloodline, making it one of the most eclectic music events this spring. Tickets go on sale on Friday, Feb. 9 at 10 AM CT at ticketmaster.com.

The Nashional is a unique two-day event that highlights the inclusive, diverse, and genre-blurring landscape of music today. Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park will be home to this inaugural event and will feature an experiential environment for fans to enjoy. Hunt was inspired to create this festival while out on his “15 In a 30” national tour this past summer.

“The sense of community in Nashville helps give it the character and personality that makes me proud to be a part of it,” says Hunt. “I wanted to create an experience at The Nashional that celebrates music, community, and everything they mean to each other and this city.”

Bud Light is the official beer sponsor of The Nashional.

Leadership Music is accepting applications from established industry leaders for the Class of 2019, the historic 30^th class, today, Feb. 1, and will accept them online throughout the month of February. Application forms, program dates, policies and FAQ’s are available at leadershipmusic.org/apply/. Applications must be submitted on-line no later than midnight, Feb. 28, 2018.

The eight-month, Nashville-based program begins in October and is designed to expose participants to every phase of the music industry and build channels of communication between established leaders, while exploring the challenges facing the industry.  Participants first attend an orientation and alumni welcome reception in September, then Opening Retreat in October, followed by six all-day sessions once a month, ending in May with graduation at Closing Retreat.  Three program days will be held on Tuesday and three on Friday. One-time tuition for the program is $1,000.

“In 1989, there were a handful of music industry executives who had participated in Leadership Nashville and were so empowered by that experience that when Jim Ed Norman, then president of Warner/Reprise Records, proposed attempting to create the same type of organization concentrating on just one industry—the music industry—we immediately saw the potential,” Joe Galante, former chairman of RCA Records and one of the 12 Founding Council for Leadership Music said. “Around the table at lunch were the heads of Warner/Reprise, RCA, Atlantic, and MCA record labels as well as executives from other segments of the industry. We quickly realized that our collaboration was unique to Nashville. Not only was it one of the tentpoles, but so was exposure to other areas within the music industry, giving participants an opportunity to learn and network. The program offers someone in radio promotion an opportunity to know someone in publishing, a songwriter someone in live music. These are just two of the many examples. That is how and why Leadership Music was conceived. I’m not sure any of us could have foreseen how much the organization has kept pace with the width and breadth of Nashville’s music industry to become an impactful national organization, including all genres of music.”